


Dawn Stone

by calvinballer



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: X & Y | Pokemon X & Y Versions
Genre: Trans, Trans Character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-10 07:00:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27830098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/calvinballer/pseuds/calvinballer
Summary: Have you ever noticed that Kalosian boutiques don't like it when you browse the “wrong” section of the store?Calem's noticed.Approximately the game setting. Transfem!Calem. Snippets are not always in chronological order.
Kudos: 8





	1. Nickname

**Author's Note:**

> This actually started as an Artober drabble with the prompt “pride.” I decided to lean into one of our more modern uses of the word, and the drabble ended up being so sweet that I started spinning it into a longer fic.
> 
> Just to warn you, because this fic includes scenes where Calem is pre-transition or is not out, characters (including Calem herself) sometimes use male pronouns like he/him and referents like “guy” or “sir” to refer to Calem. Nevertheless, in this story, Calem’s gender identity is girl. Of course, all the Calems across all fictional universes are valid.

“Calem, don’t you stay up too late, alright?” His mother’s voice called from the other side of the bedroom door.

“’Kaaaay!” Calem answered, without much meaning behind it (though he suspected his mother knew anyway). He  _ was _ in bed, most of his body under the Froakie-patterned blanket and his head laying back on a Swablu-shaped pillow, but he also had his Holo Caster in hand (the red model; green hadn’t looked right for some reason), and the gang was  _ still _ sending messages in their Shout Outs group chat. ****

**Tierno** : _Dudes im SO excited for you to get your pokemon!_   
**Tierno** : _Ive only had corphish for a day but if anything happened to him_

**Trevor** : _Please don’t actually hurt yourself, Tie._

**Tierno** : _Pfff trevs you know its a meme XD_   
**Tierno** : _But aight ill chill a little_   
**Tierno** : _Just really excited_

Calem chuckled. Tierno’s chat avatar used to be a poster for  _ Full Metal Cop _ , but yesterday it abruptly changed to a slightly blurry photo of a Corphish—the Pokémon that Professor Sycamore gave him. Trevor, who also lived in Aquacorde Town, received his Flabébé on the same day. But instead of replacing his default silhouette avatar with Flabébé, Trevor had opted for a high definition photograph of the Pokédex he received. ****

**Shauna** : _It’s okay Tie we’re excited too! But remember it’s not just dudes that are getting Pokémon!_

**Tierno** : _Oh yeah youre right youre right sorry_

**Shauna** : You’re okay!   
**Shauna** : <3

There was Shauna with her avatar: a lake at sunset. Shauna said it was a photo from a family ski trip to Sinnoh’s Snowpoint City.

It surprised Calem a little, how much these three—Tierno, Trevor, and Shauna—made him smile. They had barely known these three for a month, and only because they were all in the same group email Professor Sycamore had sent out. They’d never even actually seen each other before! Aquacorde Town and Vaniville Town were close, but finishing up school hadn’t left either him or Tierno and Trevor time to visit each other. And Shauna lived so far away in Lumiose City!

In fact, when they finally did meet up in person, Shuana was going to be bringing three more Pokémon that Professor Sycamore wanted to give them. Since his lab was also in Lumiose City, she could swing by to pick up the Pokémon and the extra Pokédexes. Calem, along with Tierno and Trevor, had said she could go ahead and pick her Pokémon if she wanted, but Shauna insisted that she’d rather make her choice when they could all be together in person.

Calem had no idea how Shauna could wait. He was dying to meet his new Pokémon! Sparing a glance at his Froakie bedsheets, he mentally crossed his fingers and hoped that he’d get to make that choice.

Figuring he ought to say something that night too, Calem began typing. His avatar was, of course, Queen Bellelba from  _ Mystery Doors of the Magical Land _ , because Sabrina was a really talented actress and a really cool person. 

**Calem** : _We totally get your excitement, by the way, Tie. I’m really pumped, too!_  
**Calem** : _I’ve wanted a Pokémon of my own ever since I was a kid. I’ve got my Froakie blanket and Swablu pillow to prove it!_

**Shauna** : _You say that like you’re the only one with stuff like that Callie! :P_

Calem pinked a little when he saw the nickname.  _ Callie…? _ That was awfully girly, wasn’t it? Calem started typing into his Holo Caster to ask Shauna to not— ****

**Tierno** : _Yeah i had a bunch of corphish and blastoise action figures as a kid_

**Shauna** : _“Had”? I still have waaaay more Eevee plushies than bed!_

**Tierno** : _What about you trevs?_

**Trevor** : _…I usually asked my parents to buy me type guidebooks._

**Tierno** : _Pfff sorry i shouldnt laugh but that really tracks_

**Shauna** : _In only the best way!_

**Calem** : _XD_

Calem shrugged. The conversation had moved on from the nickname, and Calem wasn’t going to bring it back.

**Shauna** : _Oh Callie have I ever shown you my Eevee plushies?_

…But it looked like Shauna  _ would _ . Calem readied himself to retype his already deleted message about how “Callie” was really girly-sounding—

**Calem** : _No, I don’t think you have. :o_

But then he didn’t type that. It just… didn’t seem worth taking the time to correct. And even though “Callie”  _ did _ sound like a girl’s nickname, Calem didn’t really feel like he minded that. He wondered about that for a moment, but shrugged it off. After all, the other three already seemed to have nicknames for each other—most coined by Shauna, just like his. If Shauna liked Callie, that was great!

So Calem settled down as Shauna sent one photo after another of her Eevee plush collection, each image accompanied with the plush’s story. Tierno and Trevor seemed to sign off for the night, but Calem found Shauna’s enthusiasm infectious and found himself gushing over far more Eevee plushies than he expected.


	2. Pillow

Calem was eight, and he was pointing as emphatically as he could at the Swablu pillows in the Aquacorde Department Store. His mother knelt beside him, her black hair in a ponytail, her gray blouse rumpled, but no less soft; her eyes patient, but a little confused.

“Calem, are you sure you want the Swablu pillow?” she asked for not the first time, a hand on her shoulder as the other pointed at another shelf in the pillow aisle. “What about that Garchomp pillow? Or a Greninja one to go with your Froakie blankets?”

But Calem shook his head. “The Swablu pillow looks fluffy. And I like the colors!” The Swablu pillows’ colors were brighter, with a light blue and a pastel pink fringe around the cloud-shaped wings. Calem’s mother bit at her lip for a few moments longer, mental gears turning.

“But I guess… if you think the other pillow is better…” Calem started mumbling, and his gaze dropped to the floor. And his mother finally decided.

“Well,” she said, and she nudged his chin up so that his shy eyes looked at her smiling face. “It is _your_ room, after all. You should be the one to pick.”

And seeing her boy smile back at her made it obvious that she’d made the right decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because the Calem of this fic is not the protagonist Calem, but rather the rival Calem, Grace is not the mother's name; Grace is Serena's mother.


End file.
